Say It Properly
by Aleia15
Summary: Iruka believes some things need to be said. Kakashi thinks words are overrated.


**Say It Properly**

Iruka closed his eyes and arched up, mouth open and breath fast and shallow. He clenched his fingers on Kakashi's shoulders, his grip painful, nails digging into the soft skin of Kakashi's back.

"Oh God," he said, moving one of his hands to Kakashi's mouth and pulling him close for a kiss. They kissed messily, sloppily, their breaths hot and sweet passing from throat to throat. "I love you," he mumbled against Kakashi's mouth and felt the answering smile and how Kakashi increased his pace, his body taut with need.

Kakashi's mouth moved to trail biting kisses down his neck, and Iruka's nails gouged deep marks on his back, his entire body centred in that white spot of pleasure he could feel coming.

"Kakashi," he moaned when a clever hand curled around his cock, pulling in time with Kakashi's thrusts.

"Iruka," Kakashi whispered against his skin, "I love-" This was it, Iruka thought. These were the words he had been waiting to hear. He arched clear off the bed, clenching around Kakashi and wrenching the orgasm out of him. "-how you sound when I fuck you," Kakashi finished breathlessly.

Iruka opened his mouth and exhaled the breath he had been holding, his orgasm hitting him at the same time as the disappointment of being denied what he wanted. Again.

Iruka slumped on the bed, his breath steadying, and curled an arm around Kakashi's back. He pulled him close and they kissed languidly for a few minutes, catching their breaths and enjoying their shared warmth.

It wasn't a big deal, after all. Not really. It was just three silly words.

It wasn't that he doubted Kakashi's feelings. He didn't. They had been together for a couple of years already, sharing a house for the last one, and Kakashi had given Iruka no reasons to believe he wasn't in love. But he had never said it. Iruka knew that Kakashi put little stock in words, choosing to show his feelings in a different way, in a million other gestures he showered on Iruka daily.

It was just three silly words, and Iruka didn't need to hear them.

But he _wanted_ to.

Kakashi stood from the bed and moved silently to the bathroom, coming back with a wet cloth and cleaning Iruka's body, climbing back in the bed and curling around him.

"Do you have work in the morning?" Kakashi asked drowsily, almost mouthing the words against Iruka's hair.

"Yes, I'm covering a shift in the mission room for Izumo," Iruka said, his voice trailing off in a yawn. "Do you have a mission?"

"No. I have the weekend off."

"Good." Iruka closed his eyes, turning around and pressing his body against Kakashi's, his face nestled against Kakashi's neck. "Do you want to have dinner somewhere?"

"I prefer to eat in," Kakashi sounded mostly asleep and Iruka smiled against his skin.

He didn't know why it bothered him. It shouldn't. It was just words, and he knew actions spoke louder and all that tripe people spouted when they weren't told what they wanted to hear. And it shouldn't bother him. It was stupid. Kakashi didn't love him any less just because he was socially inept and unable to form a sentence-

"I wonder if you're ever going to say it to me," Iruka mumbled before falling asleep.

…

"Rise and shine, Sensei. _I love you._"

Iruka opened his eyes startled, sitting up on the bed so fast all the blood rushed to his head and he slumped back again. He blinked, trying to make sense of what he had just heard. Had Kakashi-

"What did you just say?" he asked, the words coming out garbled from his mouth. He wasn't a morning person, Iruka knew he wasn't. He wouldn't be so surprised to realize he was having hallucinations before his first cup of coffee.

Kakashi laughed. "I said: rise and shine, Sensei. You're going to be late for work if you don't get out of bed now and hurry up."

Iruka yawned and crawled out of his warm bed. He dragged his body to the shower and by the time he was done he at least had his eyes opened. He moved to the kitchen then, where Kakashi was waiting for him with a steaming mug of black coffee.

"_I love you,_ the coffee is ready." Kakashi said, handing Iruka the mug.

That didn't mean he was completely awake, thought. He was still hearing things.

Iruka yawned again, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with a bit more force than necessary.

"What are you going to do today?" He asked, drinking deeply and letting out a satisfied sigh. The coffee was perfect, as always.

"Nothing much. I'll go have a chat with _them_ at the stone and then to the bookshop to see if something interesting has arrived. _I love you,_" Kakashi said with a shrug and Iruka nodded. Then he did a double take.

"What?" Iruka asked, concerned now that he was in fact having hallucinations.

"Stone. Bookshop. Nothing else," Kakashi enunciated slowly, making Iruka glare at him annoyed.

"Not that, the other," Iruka insisted, finishing his coffee and leaving the mug in the sink to wash up later.

"What other?" Kakashi asked, but he was regarding Iruka with amusement.

It wasn't the first time Kakashi laughed at him in the morning, when Iruka was especially slow. It was annoying, but considering that Iruka had managed to walk into a closed door five times since moving into that house, it wasn't that strange.

"Forget it," he said, shaking his head. Iruka grabbed his flak vest from where it had been discarded the night before in their haste to get naked and put it on. He moved to the door. "I'll finish at lunch time. Come pick me up?"

"I will. _I love you._"

Iruka managed to smack his face with the door as he was opening it when he heard the words, and shot a look at Kakashi who was staring at him from the kitchen and laughing.

With a last shake of his head to clear it, Iruka stepped out of their apartment and headed for work.

He was going to need more coffee.

…

The morning passed in a fairly normal fashion, no out of the blue love confessions from random people or any hallucinations at all. And yet, Iruka couldn't think about anything else during his mission desk shift.

He wondered if he had managed to drive himself crazy, or if it was just a weird morning. He could swear Kakashi had told him _I love you_ at least twice, maybe more. But it didn't make sense; Kakashi's attitude had been normal, and the way and the moments he had said it had been, at the very least, strange.

No. It was just Iruka being weird and wanting something so much he was hearing things. The best he could do was forgetting about the whole thing.

Iruka had almost managed it by the time Kakashi arrived at the mission desk. He looked as bored and nonchalant as always, his posture relaxed and a bag with a couple of books and some takeout in his hand. There was something, though, that made Iruka take a closer look at him. Kakashi appeared amused at the world; as if he was in a big joke the rest of them had not caught on yet.

"Yo, Iruka! Ready?" Kakashi said cheerfully, approaching the desk.

"Almost," Iruka said, grabbing the pile of reports on his desk and filing them in their proper place. "Five minutes."

"Right, I'll be outside with Kurenai. _I love you._"

Kakashi was out of the door before Iruka had time to react, the words filtering in his brain too late to do anything but blink and stare at the empty space where Kakashi had been.

He considered for one instant to go to Tsunade and ask for an examination, and then he saw the faces of the few people still in the mission room. They wore the same stunned expressions Iruka was certain he had on his face, their eyes fixed on the spot where Kakashi had been.

Iruka wasn't hallucinating. _Kakashi had said it_. This time Iruka was certain of it.

_In public_. Right in the middle of the mission room Kakashi had gone and said the words he had been unable to say even in the middle of their lovemaking.

And Iruka wasn't overjoyed to hear them.

He was going to _murder_ Kakashi.

…

"Home, now!" Iruka said, storming out of the mission room and grabbing Kakashi by the arm.

Kurenai stared at him amused, tilting her head curiously. "Hi, Iruka," she said with a smile.

"Kurenai," Iruka nodded politely at her, turning immediately to Kakashi with a scowl. "Now!"

Iruka didn't wait for a reply, just teleported them to their house. He whirled on Kakashi, pointing an accusatory finger at him.

"You!"

"What?" Kakashi said innocently, but Iruka was an expert at reading him, even with the mask on. There was no mistaking the mischief shinning in Kakashi's uncovered eye, or the amused quirk of his lips.

"Are you trying to drive me insane?" Iruka shouted, poking him on the chest and crowding Kakashi against the kitchen door.

He yanked Kakashi's mask down to see his face properly, and there it was that infuriating smile that told Iruka he was perfectly aware of what he was doing.

"What do you mean, Iruka? _I love you_"

Something in Iruka's mind snapped. "That's what I mean!" he shouted, pushing Kakashi against the door and making him stumble backwards when it opened. He would have felt bad for it, only Kakashi's amused expression annoyed him even more. "What's with saying 'I love you' all the time now? Is this some kind of joke?"

Kakashi laughed, as if it really was a joke. "You wanted to hear it, and I always give you what you want."

Iruka narrowed his eyes at him. "Not like this, you idiot! You have to mean it!"

Kakashi was suddenly serious. "Don't you think I do?"

That gave Iruka pause. He knew Kakashi meant it, that wasn't the point. "Like this, they're just words," he finally said, taking a deep breath. He made an effort to calm down. He knew Kakashi was just trying to prove a point.

"Iruka, they're just words all the time," Kakashi said gently. "I don't need to hear them to know. I know from the way you kiss me, from the way you laugh when I tell you something funny, from the way you make my favourite dish when I'm having a bad day, and even how you take care of my nin-ken when I can't."

There was nothing to say to that, not really. Iruka knew Kakashi was right. And still, he hated being made fun of.

Sulkily, Iruka grabbed the bag from Kakashi's hand and put it on the counter. He took out the food and saw it was his favourite dishes from the little place on the other side of Konoha he liked so much.

And it was simple, and Kakashi was a bastard for showing it to him in such a way. _Those gestures_ meant a lot more than words.

"I do love you, Iruka," Kakashi said approaching him from behind, his arms encircling Iruka's waist. "And since I do, I try to give you _all_ you want. You want words, you have them."

"You're an asshole," Iruka said with feeling, turning around and kissing him deep in the mouth.

"Yes, but you love this asshole," Kakashi said smugly, moving away and laying the table.

"You know I do." They sat at the table, the delicious food spread out in front of them, each dish a more meaningful declaration than anything Kakashi could say.

They began eating in silence, and suddenly Iruka started laughing at the silliness of the situation. Kakashi had left no doubt about what he thought of words, and Iruka knew he was right. But still, if Kakashi was stubborn Iruka was even more.

"I get your point, but sometimes I do want to hear it," he said, still chuckling.

Kakashi laughed. "I know. _I love you._ Pass me the salt."

Iruka threw it at Kakashi's head.

…


End file.
